February 4th Patch Notes

February 4, 2014 - 12:58pm -- Lee B.

The Edge of the Mists

Tyria is reeling in the shadow of the titanic horrors Scarlet Briar has recently unleashed. With its attention diverted, however, Scarlet has struck again—this time close to home. The dangerous mastermind has released a powerful enemy through a portal into an undiscovered, fragmented region of the Mists. Heroes of the Mist War are needed to explore and secure this new realm, but what will they find, and what does this latest attack portend?

A Study in Scarlet

Captain Ellen Kiel is seeking help with a development in Lion’s Arch. Join her at Fort Marriner in Lion’s Arch for more information.

Meanwhile, Marjory Delaqua and Kasmeer Meade have acquired different artifacts from Scarlet’s machinations from the last year.

Lead the investigation to piece together the puzzle that is Scarlet’s plan so far.

Taimi’s Troubles

Taimi, a gifted asuran prodigy, has been marooned in the Edge of the Mists while investigating Scarlet’s motives. She needs the player’s help to escape.

Can players avoid the perils in the Edge of the Mists in order to recover the golem parts she needs?

Unstable Portals

Whatever Scarlet did to rip open the Edge of the Mists portal in Lion’s Arch has caused unstable portals to open intermittently in some of the more dangerous areas of Tyria.

Fight off Aetherblades to restore these portals and use them to join the battle.

Achievements

Players can unlock achievements by investigating Scarlet’s motives, helping Taimi in the Edge of the Mists, and using one of the unstable Edge of the Mists portals in the wilds of Tyria.

NEW FEATURES AND CONTENT

World vs. World

Introducing the Edge of the Mists

A brand-new section of the Mists has been uncovered for players to battle in.

This new WvW map will always be available and, unlike existing WvW maps, is able to create overflow instances. This means players no longer have to wait to play WvW, regardless of the number of players attempting to play.

The map can be entered from the WvW UI screen or from Lion’s Arch.

All European worlds will be matched up with one another in the Edge of the Mists. All North American worlds will be matched up with one another as well.

Worlds will be matched according to which color they are in the current WvW matchup. For example, all green worlds will be on the same team in the Edge of the Mists.

There are nine special objectives in the Edge of the Mists, each with a different boss to defeat and bonus for capturing and holding.

The Overgrowth Region

Altar: Defeat the elementals guarding the altar to capture it. Once the altar is captured, players can power it up to gain an immunity boon.

Observatory: Defeat the three grawl tricksters to capture the observatory. Once captured, players can purchase a sentry turret that will mark enemies on the map.

Statuary: Defeat the stoneworker to capture the statuary. Once captured, players can use the supercannons to bombard enemies.

The Frostreach Region

Forge: Defeat the smith to capture the forge. Once captured, players can craft Koda’s Hammer, a bundle weapon.

Bell Tower: Defeat the bell ringer to capture the bell tower. Once captured, players can ring bells throughout the Frostreach region to summon Spirits of Koda to defend the area.

Shrine: Defeat the Voice to capture the shrine. Once captured, players can summon the Claw to patrol the Frostreach region.

The Badlands Region

Workshop: Defeat the mechanic to capture the workshop. Once captured, players can purchase a mechanical siege devourer transformation.

Airport: Defeat the pilot to capture the airport. Once captured, players can purchase air-strike items to call down remote air strikes on enemies.

Wurm Tunnel: Defeat the wurm to capture the tunnel. Once captured, players can use wurm tunnels on the map to travel across great distances.

There is an additional new objective type in the Edge of the Mists: Reactors.

These objectives are guarded by one creature and, when held, will provide additional supply at specific objectives.

Building generators at each reactor will increase the size of the supply deliveries.

Each region has a tower and a keep associated with it.

Each keep has a specific bonus that accrues for the team holding it when they capture and hold other objectives in that region.

Overgrown Fane (Overgrowth Region)

For each objective held in the Overgrowth region, players will receive an increasingly powerful buff.

Arid Fortress (Badlands Region)

For each objective held in the Badlands region, automated turrets will be activated in the area to defend against invaders.

Thunder Hollow (Frostreach Region)

Each objective held in the Frostreach region will increase the strength of snowfall in the area, which impedes invaders.

The Edge of the Mists resets every 4 hours, and the score from the map does not affect the score for the current WvW matchup.

Victorious worlds in the Edge of the Mists will receive a supply drop in their home borderlands map upon victory in the Edge of the Mists.

A new, permanent achievement group has been added to the WvW achievement category for the Edge of the Mists.

User Interface and Queue Improvements

The WvW panel, opened with the B key, has been updated to more closely match other UI elements in the game.

It now includes separate tabs for entering WvW, viewing the detailed score, and viewing WvW ranks and abilities.

The Mist War tab includes information about the Edge of the Mists, the current score in the WvW matchup, the buttons for entering each map, as well as information about the queue status of each map.

The queue for WvW has been updated.

Players are now able to see their position in the queue for any given map.

Players can now see the current queue status of each WvW map on the WvW panel. This includes the number of people queued to enter the map.

BALANCE, BUG-FIXING, POLISH

General

Fixed a bug that caused the legendary drake in Angvar’s Trove to occasionally become stuck.

Profession Skills

Warrior

Riposte: Fixed a bug that caused projectiles to continue being reflected after the skill was canceled when traited with Missile Deflection.

Necromancer

Signet of Vampirism: The active life-siphoning effect of this signet can no longer be applied to inanimate objects, such as WvW gates.

World vs. World

The Righteous Indignation buff has been updated in the following ways:

New icon

New visual effect

Reduced the outgoing damage multiplier from 300% to 200%

Increased the amount of Dragonite Ore dropped by keep lords.

The WvW panel is now visible everywhere (in overflows, while guesting, etc.).

The right-click player menu now works properly while in WvW—showing options for party invites, whispers, etc.—for players who are not enemies in WvW.

The player location UI now displays specific WvW map names and the correct home shard when mousing over players who are in WvW.

Fixed some bugs related to WvW queue ordering.

Fixed WvW queue-related exploits.

Living World

Fixed an issue that was causing the Detached Great Jungle Wurm Head to remain invulnerable after the timer started.

Fixed an issue in which the wurms were not properly deactivating when the event failed.

Fixed a rare issue that could prevent the Detached Great Jungle Wurm Head from reemerging.

BLACK LION TRADING COMPANY GEM STORE

New Items and Promotions

New Lovestruck weapon skins are available at the Black Lion Weapons Specialist for the introductory price of 1 Black Lion Weapon Ticket for the next four weeks. Black Lion Weapon

Tickets can be found in Black Lion Chests.

The Permanent Cute-Quaggan Finisher is now available in the Upgrades category of the Gem Store for 800 gems. Players can now have cute quaggans dance around their fallen foes in PvP and WvW when they use this adorable finisher.

Glory Boosters will no longer be sold in the Gem Store starting February 11, 2014.

Improvements

The Flamekissed Light Armor Skin has returned with a new look and can be obtained for 800 gems in the Style category of the Gem Store. All existing Flamekissed Light Armor pieces have been upgraded to the new look.